John 14

I Go to Prepare a Place for You!

I am finally getting some time to get caught up on my writing. Hope you enjoy.

HIGHLIGHT: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.” ⁵ Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. ! John 14:1-6

EXPLAIN: “Let not your heart be troubled.” How many times do we need to hear this phrase in life. Jesus knows his disciples will soon be tested beyond their imaginations when he is taken off and arrested. So what is the key for a Troubled Heart according to Jesus. Believe! It means to put one’s full trust into. He said, “You believe in God, now believe in ME!” Jesus invites them (and us) to believe in His Person, and also what He can do, and will do. He is preparing to go to the cross, but actually through the cross to other side. That will involve a trip to heaven where he will prepare a place for us. Wait a minute! Really? He is going back to the Father to prepare a place for us… “I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

That is crazy, almost too much to believe unless this man Jesus is God or something. In chapter 16, Jesus will tell us it is good for him to go away so He can send the Holy Spirit, and here is telling us it is good for Him to go away and prepare a home in heaven for us. The picture almost inspires me to think Jesus came and purchased us at the cross and then returned to make sure that our heavenly accommodations will be ready and personally prepared for each of us. The word prepared simply means “to make the necessary preparations” for often in regards to “lodging, and or a feast.”

Jesus promises then to come back for us so that He may take us to be with Him with Him – where He is. It really has the sense that Jesus loves us and has committed himself to fully caring for our provision for all of eternity. It truly has the sense that we will one day be absolutely at Home with Jesus.

Then we have Thomas response and question to Jesus – Lord we do not know the way you are going, how can we know the way? (v.4). Well Thomas, I am so glad you asked (right). Don’t you love the perfect set up line, and Thomas has just put it on a platter for the Son of God, who then responds.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:1-6)

This is a loaded statement for sure.

(1) I am the WAY! Jesus is declaring that he is the way to get to God, to get to heaven. Jesus is not a way among many ways, but he is the only means to come into fellowship with the Father.

(2) I am the TRUTH! Jesus is the truth – the one who reveals God’s eternal truth. Jesus knows the truth about God, and the truth about You. Truth is not just knowledge, but Truth is a PERSON. Jesus is truth. Apart from him, we cannot walk in the light and truth of God. The only way to walk in truth is to walk with Jesu.

(3) I am the Life! This just tops it off. Jesus is the WORD who in the beginning who created and gave life, and He is the one who gives life to hearts that a dead, dull and hard. Jesus gives life to the human heart by the Holy Spirit and will give eternal life to men and women who are lost.

Do you know Jesus – the way, the truth, and the life?

EXPLAIN:

I am thrilled with hope that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for me. I truly believe Jesus cares for His own, having loved us to the end, and that the home in heaven will be a culmination of all of my dreams. I was in an amazing house (a friend’s house) on Monday night helping host a party for a group. As I greeted people at the door, they kept asking if this was my house. I said, “No, but I am going to have one just like it in heaven one day. It will be amazing.” I believed it when I said it.

I also believe Jesus is the Way, Truth and Life. There is a simple power in the Gospel as we call other people to discover Jesus and follow Him. I do not have to dress it up, I just have to declare it that all might follow Him. Jesus is Lord. I enter the Father’s presence through Him as the way, and i follow Him as the way. I believe fully in Him and all He reveals for He is truth. I look to him to give me life, and fill me with Life.

RESPOND:

I will be reminded today that this world is not my home, and that I have eternal home in heaven. I must live today in light of that day.